Amazing Astrophotography: Perseids, Fireball, Aurorae, and Weird Clouds

OK, I can't resist: Above is another beautiful Perseid meteor photo, taken by Göran Strand in Sweden on Thursday. I love the colors in this one! In the original shot, you can see the stars of the Big Dipper above it, too. But there's more. See that green band above the horizon on the left? That's the aurora! And not only that, but the weird, twisted, glowing clouds you can see near it are noctilucent clouds, a rare sight. These are very high altitude clouds made of very tiny ice crystals. They ...